In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

Putting aside the national hatred and family feud with Japan, the Song Dynasty really needs various minerals from Japan to make up for the lack of gold, silver, bronze, sulfur, saltpeter and other minerals.

Moreover, Zhao Jun's idea was not to invade by force, but to command by remote control, so there was no need to send troops to attack on a large scale.

Although the means were a bit dishonorable, it could actually solve the dilemma faced by the Song Dynasty.

But even so, these literati were hesitant and did not consider how much benefit they could bring to the Song Dynasty with some small means, which could really raise Zhao Jun's blood pressure.

If it weren't for his final threat, I'm afraid that group of people would still not agree. This made Zhao Jun doubt, how could he do good politics with this group of insects?

No wonder the Song Dynasty perished so quickly, the ability and courage of the emperor and the literati class were really hard to describe.

Fortunately, everyone agreed in the end, and Zhao Zhen also promised to immediately let the Imperial City Department investigate the current situation in Japan.

This made Zhao Jun barely suppress his anger and start the next topic.

Soon the meeting ended briefly at si in the morning. Because everyone was starving, Wang Shouzhong didn't dare to come in at the door. Zhao Zhen saw him and called him, then he remembered that he was a little hungry.

Mainly because Zhao Jun's previous talks were relatively general, but now that he started to talk in detail, everyone was unconsciously attracted, so they listened attentively and forgot the time.

So at Wang Shouzhong's reminder, the meeting stopped first, and everyone had a meal at the end of si, and continued the meeting at noon.

During the process, Zhao Jun talked about many things, in addition to sending a fleet to America to search for crops and economic, cultural and semi-military invasions and colonizations of Japan, or colonizing the Iwami area of ​​Honshu Island in Japan, plundering their minerals, there is also the shaping of ideology.

The content is that if you want to quell the growing class antagonism among the people in a short period of time, you can publish newspapers, build nationalism, shape the Liao Kingdom and Xixia into enemies, and constantly exaggerate emotions among the people to divert internal contradictions.

However, this proposal was opposed by everyone as soon as it was made. No matter how Zhao Jun scolded them, they would never agree to it, which was quite like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.

Because they were worried that this would make Liao and Xixia completely hostile to the Song Dynasty, and might form an alliance between Liao and Xia to jointly deal with the Song Dynasty.

This made Zhao Jun very unhappy again.

For him, it was the truth to follow the example of New China, recover lost territory and strengthen the country, and let the Han people and all the people of the Chinese nation live well.

As for Liao, Xixia and the surrounding ethnic minorities, if you are willing to become part of the Chinese nation, Zhao Jun would certainly be happy to accept you.

But if you become the enemy of the Chinese nation and bully the Han people, you can't blame him for being ruthless.

Moreover, shaping ideology is also conducive to mobilizing the emotions of the people and allowing the people to restore the martial spirit of the Han and Tang Dynasties, so that when they attack Liao and Xixia in the future and recover their homeland, they will be more powerful.

Therefore, nationalism has never been a bad thing.

Just considering the nature of the rulers of the Song Dynasty and the current situation of the Song Dynasty army, the Western Xia alone could beat them half to death, not to mention the powerful Liao Kingdom.

So Zhao Jun finally had to give up this idea and wait until the army was reformed in the future before discussing this matter.

Then there were some other details.

Such as tea law reform and salt law reform, imitating the Kaizhong law of the early Ming Dynasty to add salt to the Ruzhong law. There is also an in-depth discussion of the problem of redundant officials and other difficulties currently facing the Song Dynasty.

It was not until Zhao Jun finished talking about many things that could be changed in the general direction that everyone began to formally discuss the topic in the afternoon.

Before, Zhao Jun was talking and everyone was listening. Now they became free to speak and talked about the problems they encountered.

Just as introducing the current situation of the Song Dynasty to Zhao Jun in advance.

At this moment, the Guanjia Hall is very spacious, with all the doors and windows open. The cool breeze in the afternoon of early July blew into the hall, dispersing the scorching heat of midsummer and bringing people an incomparable comfort.

Zhao Jun held the teacup in his hand and glanced outside the door. The guards were far away. Only Wang Shouzhong was waiting outside the hall. He was oblivious to the conversation inside the hall, showing a high quality of eunuch.

"This is the current situation of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty. In the second year of Jingyou, there were 834 people who entered the officialdom through family connections, while there were only 96 people who entered the officialdom through imperial examinations. Even if the special nominations were included, there were only 103 people, far less than those who entered the officialdom through family connections."

Fan Zhongyan glanced at Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others who were silent, and continued: "Now there are more than 42,000 officials in the Song Dynasty. Eight or nine out of ten entered the officialdom through family connections, and a quarter of them have no official positions. The court has to pay them more than 4 million strings of salary every year."

"This is just the basic salary. The rest of the salary, meal money, tea money, official land, silk cloth, spring and winter clothes, From clothing, food, tea, wine, kitchen supplies, ice, charcoal, firewood, salary, reward money, spices, and so on, the national treasury spends 16 million strings of money a year. "

"And the court has treated them very well, but there are a large number of local officials who continue to expand their land, evade taxes, refuse to pay taxes, and are corrupt, lawless, and enrich themselves at the expense of the public."

"I want to ask everyone, among the more than 42,000 officials, more than 10,000 of them have no official positions, but only receive salaries from various government offices, and can do nothing at home, receiving dozens or hundreds of strings of money every month."

"Is this how it should be?"

"Also, if we only support these people, their descendants will continue to work in the officialdom and continue to receive money that should not belong to them. If things go on like this, the country will not be a country. Who else will be willing to do things? "

"Do you, Prime Minister Lu and Prime Minister Wang, think that continuing like this is a good thing for the Song Dynasty? Or do you think that these things cannot shake the foundation of the Song Dynasty?"

At the end of the conversation, Fan Zhongyan had directly pointed the finger at Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others, because they were now the bosses of the interest groups.

But I have to admit that what he said is true.

Since he wanted to attack redundant officials, Fan Zhongyan naturally did a lot of homework early, and the content inside was shocking.

Putting aside the issue of tax evasion, just saying that one quarter has no official position means that more than 10,000 officials play casually at home every day, and then receive money every month and enjoy the support of the state. They are worse than moths.

The key is that if wages in the Song Dynasty were low, it would be barely bearable. But the problem is that the salaries and benefits of officials in the Song Dynasty were extremely high, which was the highest in all dynasties.

In "Qing Ping Le" of later generations, Fan Zhongyan said that his annual income was 300,000 yuan, which is 300 guan.

In fact, that's nonsense in film and television dramas. The real Fan Zhongyan's monthly salary was 600 guan when he was working as a political counselor. If you add up your titles and titles, you can earn thirty thousand dollars per year.

This is recorded in the "History of Song Dynasty Official Records" and "Jiayoulu Ling". When Bao Zheng was the governor of Kaifeng, his cash income alone was 20,000 yuan. Adding up other income, he had about 20,000 yuan. More than 21,000 strings.

Even if they are second- and third-grade senior officials, they enjoy the highest benefits and allowances. Middle and lower-level officials do not have so many, but ordinary officials still get dozens or hundreds of guan every year, and their salary income cannot be considered bad.

With so many officials, and a large number of officials who do nothing but only receive salary, what country can bear this? Naturally, the problem of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty became the worst in history.

Lu Yijian remained silent after listening.

Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen were also silent. Zhao Jun only now understood the specific situation of redundant officials, while Zhao Zhen already knew it and was unable to change it.

It was Wang Zeng who reminded him: "Mr. Xiwen, please don't forget that it is precisely because most of the officials in the world come from Menyin that people will rise up and attack. Even if we all agree with your reform and restructuring, will the officials in the world agree?"

"Then are we just going to watch these moths corroding the country? Watching them do whatever they want and remain indifferent?" Fan Zhongyan said angrily: "Is there no justice in this world?"

"Zhao Jun, what do you think?"

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun didn't know much about the actual situation before and made some suggestions. Now Fan Zhongyan talked about the specific situation and he wanted to hear his opinion.

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "My suggestion on this point is to research clearly before making a decision. But even if the research is clear, don't think about cutting off officials on a large scale all at once. Lao Fan, your direction in history is right, but the method is wrong. . If you kill so many at once, it would be strange if they don’t fight with you.”

"Aren't you going to do nothing?"

Fan Zhongyan is very stubborn, and even nine cows can't get him back from something he has set his sights on.

"It's not that we don't do anything, but we need to pay attention to methods. For example, we can subdivide the powers and transfer the officials who have no duties to serve as local officials. In a county, there is a county magistrate, two deputy magistrates, four or five Isn’t it enough for the county magistrate?”

Zhao Jun explained: "Let them each be in charge of economy, agriculture, education, statistics, forestry bureau, mining, transportation, public security, etc., and do KPI performance appraisals to tie them up."

"I heard you say it once before, what is KPI?"

Fan Zhongyan frowned.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "It's the assessment system. There are details about this in Zhang Juzheng's reforms in the Ming Dynasty. I will sort out the contents of his reforms and send them to you. You can figure it out yourself."

send to me?

Why does this sound weird?

Fan Zhongyan was confused and could only say: "Okay."

At this moment, Zhao Zhen asked: "Zhao Jun, I just want to ask you, what will happen if the ministers of a country all form cliques for personal gain, become friends, and criticize each other?"

This question was asked very abruptly.

In just an instant, there was no sound in the whole room. Everyone fell silent, and everyone's breathing seemed to be heard in the house.

The official's words seemed to have some meaning.

Zhao Jun could naturally understand what Zhao Zhen meant, and said in a deep voice: "Party strife has been the most internal conflict in the feudal dynasty since ancient times. It was the disaster of the party in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the dispute between Niu and Li in the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Yougeng of the Great Song Dynasty, Donglin and the eunuch party in the late Ming Dynasty. Fighting with each other has aggravated the instability of the country, harmed the national interests, or directly or indirectly led to the demise of the country.”

"Yuanyou changed?"

Zhao Zhen immediately noticed this word keenly because there was Song Dynasty in front of it.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded: "Yuanyou's transformation is what happened to Song Shenzong later, that is, your adopted son Song Yingzong Zhao Shu's son Zhao Xu in the later period. The old and new parties of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang fought with each other, which seriously damaged the national power of the Song Dynasty. Although Song Zhezong, the son of Song Shenzong, made certain achievements and the national power was somewhat restored during his reign, the issue between the old and the new parties was never resolved, the new law and the old law conflicted, and social problems intensified. In the end, Song Huizong succeeded to the throne. He was incompetent and incompetent during his reign. Extremely stupid, the Jingkang Disgrace broke out due to internal and external troubles, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. Therefore, Yuanyou Gengfa had a profound impact, which caused the Song Dynasty's national power to decline rapidly, which was indirectly responsible for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. "

"Official family."

Lu Yijian finally spoke at this time, stood up, raised his hands to Zhao Zhen and said: "I have no intention to block the reform, and I am not willing to block the reform. But Fan Xiwen's reform only knows how to act recklessly and make enemies of officials all over the world. How can it continue like this? "I just hope that he can be gentler in his approach and eliminate so many officials at once. The Song Dynasty cannot afford such a big turmoil."

Fan Zhongyan said angrily: "You traitors wantonly control the government. You are in charge of the promotion of all officials. You are blocking the reform just because there are so many of your disciples and disciples in the whole court. But now you speak so righteously and awe-inspiring, it is really hypocritical and depressing. Gagging.”

"Okay, Mr. Xiwen."

Zhao Zhen wanted to interrupt him and stop their quarrel.

But Fan Zhongyan refused to listen and continued to argue with Lu Yijian. The two sides exchanged several words back and forth, which made Zhao Zhen's face turn green with anger.

Until a moment later, Zhao Jun could hardly stand listening anymore and said, "Mr. Xiwen, don't be too happy too early."

"What's the meaning?"

Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun with an unkind expression.

Zhao Jun said: "Your seventeenth generation grandson Fan Wencheng helped the Qing Dynasty conquer the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, they massacred the Han people many times. Your descendants are indispensable!"

"It's my descendants' business, what does it have to do with me?"

Fan Zhongyan was shocked when he first heard about it, so he quickly shied away from responsibility. This is human instinct.

Zhao Jun said: "Yes, so what does it have to do with Xianggong Lu that the whole dynasty is full of officials who are under the influence of the family? Isn't the root of all this the system? You have to find the reason from the system. Do you remember what I said? Unite all the friends who can be united. Now that we are all in the same boat, is it interesting for you to engage in internal fighting every day? "

"I"

Fan Zhongyan was confused all of a sudden.

I have been fighting with Lu Yijian for many years. If I don't want to fight, I will fight. How can I let it go so quickly?

"Listen to me, less internal fighting and more practical work."

Zhao Jun advised: "If you hadn't been a good official who cared about the country and the people in history, I wouldn't bother to care about you."

"."

Fan Zhongyan remained silent and finally closed his mouth.

"Zhao Jun is right. Now that everyone knows that our country, the Song Dynasty, is in a bad situation, we should work together to overcome the difficulties."

Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Not only Duke Xiwen and Duke Lu Xu, but also Duke Lu Xu and Duke Xiaoxian. You should also put aside your previous prejudices and shake hands to make peace."

"Yes, official."

Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng looked at each other, stood up and bowed their hands to Zhao Zhengong.

It was already evening.

It's getting dark.

Everyone was still unfinished and continued to start new topics. They talked until the beginning of Xu Shi, when the meeting finally ended.